Monday, 22 February 2016

In the midst of a surprising amount of support from her fellow Divas, Kesha's musical career suffered another setback last week.
Wanting to be legally released from her current contract with Sony and their imprint label Kemosabe Records, the Diva was left stunned when a court ruled against her wishes. This was despite revelations of alleged physical and emotional abuse perpetrated against her at the hands of producer and Kemosabe head, Dr Luke. However, with no corroborating proof, the judge had little choice but to side with the label. To do anything else would have left the world of contract law in a dubious state.

As of this point, Kesha still owes the company a *rumoured* six albums to fulfil her contractual obligations and be released as an independent artist. A tiny consultation- no doubt brought about by the case gaining public attention- was that Sony have now said she no longer has to work with her accused abuser, Dr luke. How generous of them (!)

Still, the worry for the singer-songwriter is that the label will make releasing music as hard as possible, holding her under what is effectively contractual hostage until the public lose interest. After all, their real asset is the wildly successful Dr Luke, who they have sole use of as a producer for five years. With this in mind, it's likely that Kesha's time in court has only just begun.

Ignoring the petty infighting, the overall takeaway from this for me is that the music industry is one shady shit-show, which needs some form of regulation. To think, kids are signing multi-album, decade long deals when they're at their most vulnerable (young, stupid, starry-eyed and desperate for fame) is crazy. Of course, labels invest a lot of money and risk into these individuals, but there has to be a more equatable way of making stars.

Perhaps Kesha can use her own experiences to create a record label that could make this a reality.